Hilltop Crips have been powerful criminal force for 20 years

BY STACEY MULICK (The News Tribune)
03/01/10

The Hilltop Crips have a long history.

Tacoma police investigators say that over the past 20 years, the gang has been “a powerful criminal force on the streets of Tacoma.” Its members have been convicted of murders, aggravated assaults, robberies and other drug and gang charges.

About 15 teens formed the gang, originally known as the 23rd Street Hilltop Crips, in the late 1980s. It’s had a foothold in Tacoma since.

The gang’s young founders were attracted to the lifestyle exhibited by the Los Angeles gangsters working Tacoma’s streets.

According to court documents filed in a recent crackdown against the gang:

“They chose gang monikers for themselves; they established gang signs that they would form with their hands; they began wearing unique clothing that identified them as members of the Crip gang and they became involved in acts of extreme violence.

“They also immersed themselves in the sale of rock cocaine in Tacoma.”

Turf wars drove members of the rival Bloods off the Hilltop and into other parts of the city, predominantly the East Side. The original Hilltop Crips recruited other youngsters, and the gang eventually had as many as 300 members.

“They became so strong that they overcame the Los Angeles gangs in the area,” charging documents state. “Soon Los Angeles gang members operated only if the HTCs allowed them to do so.”

In the early years, youngsters flaunted their gang membership.

Tacoma police detective John Ringer, who’s been investigating gangs for 20 years, still has the photo albums he carried in his patrol car in the late 1980s. The albums, called gang books, contain pictures of identified gang members.

When on patrol, Ringer said, he stopped to talk and identify gang members.

Sometimes gang members would flag him down and ask to see the book. If their photos weren’t in the albums, he said, the gang members would pose for snapshots and flash their signs.

In the late 1990s, law enforcement struck several blows to the gang when the Pierce County Violent Crimes Task Force targeted the Hilltop’s streets and the gangsters committing violence and dealing drugs.

A series of undercover operations focused on cocaine dealers and led to hundreds of arrests, including many Hilltop Crips.

The South Sound Gang Task Force, which was created in 2003, also has taken off several key players of the gang over the past six years. Investigators say the size of the gang rises and falls, but now it has more than 200 members and associates.

In recent years, gang members quit flaunting their affiliations when they were stopped by police, Ringer said. They’ve also been more evasive in flying their colors, he said

Eventually most of the original members of the gang either have been locked up or killed.

However, police investigators say the gang has been rebounding and rebuilding its ranks. They say they’re seeing second and third generations of gang members.

59 Comments for “Hilltop Crips have been powerful criminal force for 20 years”

  1. Sonny

    This is king hill top Luke you punk Im plotting

  2. sonny

    King hill top says f the police the top is mine

  3. I dont like hilltop, egc Ni66ah!

    • Yepp f kTOP ni66a it7 74 till Da world 6low$ f ckrabb as ni66a

      • Menace loc

        74 11 bkitch ass Ni66ah st. paul 60s Crip all day we k a broke ass garbage diggers erday loc. Slobk 187 eastside st. pistol (st. paul)

      • BigOutCast

        Stop it Loc ! Trith is them Hill Top Crips run the pen and non of ya folks ever tried to get it on wit them. I was locced up an ya’ll Ni66ahhs tried gang hangin instead of gang bangin.the only Ni66ahhs in Wa state get any love in Cali is them HTC’s ya BGD’s and fake Snoovers get worked over

  4. sonny

    king hill top saids f you want a battle chick

  5. john bragg

    im a crip

  6. whats craccin cuz scarloc here reading abkout the hill top crips keep bangin homies with me we will ce all streets and demolish all slobks I dont like a flood sky high homie if you ain’t true you ain’t banging

  7. BigBunnyB

    f Tacoma if u come up to Lynnwood with all that ish Ni66ah yo ass gonna get dropped

  8. BigBunnyB

    f Tacoma if u come up to Lynnwood with all that ish yo ass gonna get dropped

  9. YUNGSLEEP

    WATS CRACCIN CUZZ KEEP DAT SHIIT STRA LOCCIN CUZZ

  10. Crips gang thug gets 20 years in vicious stab slay of bus driver Edwin Thomas

    […] Hilltop Crips have been powerful criminal force for 20 years BY STACEY MULICK (The News Tribune) 03/01/10 The Hilltop Crips… […]

  11. […] Tacoma was a hotbed of gang activity.  There were warnings about owning blue or red cars.   You didn’t make eye contact with anyone at the mall for fear of being shot.  In the midst of this gangland, was a high-end college.  The girls in my dorm had never been away from home.  They had never consumed alcohol that wasn’t in wine cooler form (unlike myself who became a fan of super cheap vodka).  They wore pure white keds and had shrines devoted to their high school boyfriends.  Barf.  Ooops.  That may have been the vodka coming back up. […]

  12. mr253

    I dont like 7hoe and I dont like egk and lynwood never been hard.

    • BigOutCast

      n ya know it homie ! Fake snoovers been puttin anyone on for years ! The only hard Ni66ahh I knew from that set was LilWolfLoc from8-Trey Hoover Crip Gang and the 7hoes ked him ! He was a real Crip Ni66ahh C.I.P LilWolfLoc Ya Ni66ahhs Jokes even in L.A. ya Ni66ahs anet ish no more. If it were’nt for the E.T.G’s you’d been ran off by dem ECC’s and 60’s

  13. micwar2001

    keep plotting!!!!!!!

  14. lol

    lame ass negros gunna get gunned down just like the first generation of every other gang, l2live dumbasses, hope you get butt fed in prison

  15. CURLY LOC

    ESC all day cuz

  16. davina

    i really wish these lil websites could screen the faksters lmfao. But anyway i was born and raised in tacoma. I have been reppin HILLTOP since i was twelve and will till i live. As for that lynnwood mess. who are you foolin. cuz it aint none of us

  17. Sharky

    Itz about getting paid. You mix gangs into that slangin your dumb nuff said.

  18. Originalswamp

    aye homie the eastside is sloop what about eastide piru 44 streeters green raggers ? You knoe them shalishan piru Ni66ahhs ? And all the sloop little asians olb.’s. That whole housing projects slobs. The homie lil clown from hilltop did a stretch for shooting 2of them.

  19. VICTOR

    LA. is mexican turf

  20. hilltop & S .56 to da 45th was puttn it down

  21. 252smm

    Krab k bix dropper. Ya some funny talking kuntry Ni66ahz. Whats kraking kuz. Y’all sound smart. R all u west coast the same.I tell ya want u need to do drop ya flags come out here to new York, Jersey whateva n well get u right.

    • canned goods

      what, your from the east coast and talking about west coast banging?!! haha what a joke man. gtfo with that weak ish. think you confused homie. talking ish about the west coast and claiming you’ll get us right?? while you bite the west coast steez. copy our gang culture and try to be like us. you straight comedy man. you dont know cali politics, cali business or history. go ahead stay fronting with that imitation style. fighting for something you know nothing about. no one takes you guys serious.

  22. Anonymous

    Deport them all to Liberia regardless of race.

  23. Me Meo

    dees noogas look like some wanna be boyz II men mofos

  24. dubbs

    you don’t have to be that hard in SOFT environments- Little rock Arkansas is still the perfect example- weak azz Lil’ moe, aka “L.A. moe” went down to Little Rock back in the late ’80s ( a rollin ’30s/ West side crip) and TURNED THAT CITY OUT.

    Cops up in the northwest did n’t know how to handle the L.A. gang and dope influx and they basically “took over the streets”- these fools wouldn’t last long in So.L.A.

  25. hilltopcrippin

    come on to da 253 n find out

  26. GRAPkE STREET_OG

    Ni66a its grape street cripp all day locc, 107th 6a6y loc’s till the day i live, ni66as in washington from seattle to taconma to fakewood too spokane is alllll week ni66a the I dont like lol like 6 ni66as been ked in the lst 3 yrs, ni66a 10+ ni66as get smokedd in LA on a dailyy you ni66as dont know ish bout banngin, most the time when your homiess gett smoked yall dont do ish anyways i came up there one time in my life in like 94′ and theyy was coo (HTC) but noww all there lil dumbass kids try and claim there hood theres more fake hilltop bangers thenn i eva seen bkfore, ni66a grape street wud mashhh them ni66as, smh lil ni66as, cuhz crips started in LA yall wouldnt have “ktop” if it wsnt fer us ni66a, stop givin crip a bad name and hang up your cheap made flagss loc, leave crippn to cali ni66as cause yall aint doin it right locc

    • james greene

      Ecc fing y’all up so stop it Ni66ah

    • Real Crippen

      Ni66ah My Dad Big Bk Is From Grape Nd If U Dnt Know Who That Is Then Ur Not Reall Baby Loc Grape St Crip On Me Nd I Was Born In Cali Moved Up To Tacoma Nd Im From The SouthEnd YGC/Tf Clicc Nd We Gets It Popping So Wat Chu Saying Game??

    • HilltopLocOn23rdFoo

      grape street crips is a LA area set. I didn’t know crips in LA was on the 6. We don’t ride the 6.. HTC FOO!

  27. hilltop KELSO

    yo! u aint even down foo if u an OG or a straight up ~SLOB k~ u can bang a six piont star if u OG but as for HTC they are the real deal SO DONT f WITH US 211 FO LIFE!

  28. coldhouse

    25 years to be exact and I’m not proud to say that what so ever because all Its done is cause more conflict with no organization amongst our black communities. Another Master Plan to control our strong black men, by the supper powers of the world.
    I’m on a whole new way of thinking and its not controlled by what I wear or what set I claim. And the supper powers have NO CONTROL OVER ME !
    find find yourselves and do the same, otherwise they control you too !
    #TURR #DADS

    @LBVISIONSTV

  29. coldhouse benZino

    25 YEARS
    And I’m not in any form proud of that fact.
    The supper powers of this world controls us, with hate
    n our own communities, but we have to organize and work together, enough people have lived, just as in history of civil wars now its time to operate as a united nation of streets,
    follow me at FACEBOOK.COM/LBVISIONS

  30. Gangs sucks

    It be nice if these gangbangers can learn how to shoot so they can ked each other on target and not fkn missed like idiot and hit an innocent bystander . But you always see themr flaunting their guns like they some professional sniper. fing dumbass get a job or learn how to shot. I don’t mind you mfkers k-ingg each other. Representing a block you don’t even pay property tax on . Gangs are to smart and funny. fing characters

  31. Don'tjoingangsitsstupid

    It be nice if these gangbangers can learn how to shoot so they can ked each other on target and not fkn missed like idiot and hit an innocent bystander . But you always see them flaunting their guns like they some professional sniper. fing dumbass get a job or learn how to shot. I don’t mind you mfkers k-ingg each other. Representing a block you don’t even pay property tax on . Gangs are to smart and funny. fing characters

  32. cj

    Look at these fools that wannabe white boy at the front probably still lives with his momma

  33. 2cool4aname

    Psssshhh. Yall don’t know hard till Yall know the Lakeland Hills Crusaders! If you doubt our legitimacy, you can schedule an appointment with one of our gang case mangers and we can throw down at the local starbucks! And if your thinking about coming into our hood uninvited, think again. . Because even if you get passed our security gate.. you still have to deal with Dave our full time security guard! And I think he is aloud to carry pepper spray and a flashlight that hurts your eyes if shined in them. So don’t waste your time. All efforts would be futile. Lol you guys have no idea how smart you all sound. You think you’re so hard.. go back to school and actually learn how to contribute to society. Or k each other off. It doesn’t really matter.

  34. BabyBlue

    You this that rip riddah ish from Bremerton cuzzy. This Lil wanna ce grape street fool up here haha. My cuzzins are Rollin 20’s cuzzy. My whole fam ce crippin till the day we hit our gravesites. I dont like all yall haters. We cool wit HTC cuzzys. I dont like these nillas

  35. james greene

    That’s not a real picture of Tacoma’s hilltop crips I have plenty if u need some my name is Corrupt Calhoun Loc and IMA hilltop these dudes in this picture are NOT hilltops trust me z

  36. bKig LoC

    25 Hilltopk until my bkody dropk Cuz

Leave a Reply to dubbs

Log in |
  • Prison Gangs
  • Other Cities
  • Los Angeles Police Gang Enforcement Initiaitives – 2007
  • SG Music
  • Crips
  • Bloods
  • Asian Gangs
  • Forums
  • Shop
  • Injunctions
  • contact
  • Resources